Those who know of EMU senior Seth Weddle most likely know of the Open Houses he organizes for local and traveling bands in the Ypsi area, as well as the music he makes with his own bands. Friday, at his new location at 123 College Place, he hosted another Open House concert featuring a mix of genres from local bands and touring band Anatomy of Frank.
“This is the first show of the new house,” Weddle said. “Our new neighbors are super friendly and very generous about the noise and in raising money for our traveling bands by baking goods (for our show).”
Senior Colin Shannon agreed: “We don’t wanna charge (for the show), but at the same time we want to sponsor the traveling bands.The bake sales help us out.”
Admission to the show was free, to encourage people to come and go throughout the night. The Facebook RSVP event listed 105 people planning to be in attendance, and while there was just the cleared living room and front yard to listen from, the flow of people over the course of the evening was steady.
The atmosphere that night was set with some relaxed lounging as Frank Su, the opening act, began with a keyboard performance with songs ranging from classic, to videogame and anime theme songs such as Castlevania’s Bloody Tears and the theme from Howl’s Moving Castle, to a song from System of a Down.
Su was followed by a brief solo performance by Mike Bustamante on guitar, and a rendition of “Message in a Bottle” that got the whole crowd singing along. Next was senior Clara Balmer performing some of her own songs on the ukelele. She also got the crowd to sing along and dance some jigs.
The fourth performance of the evening was touring band Anatomy of Frank, with only member Kyle Woolard in attendance, since the other members of the band could not take the time off of work in Virginia to go on tour.
Having previously to come to Ypsilanti, Wooland had traveled and performed all over the states and in many parts of Canada. This performance was marked by some brilliant light work, timed with the music to flash in and out in various colors. The music was also enhanced by Wooland’s use of technology, recording his playing and playing it back on loop during the song.
The audience really got into the effect, and would begin cheering him on when he played back his own voice and harmonized with it in real time. This part of the evening saw an increase in crowd energy – people began dancing more, drumming on their bodies and yelling out their approval to Woolard for his music.
The living room became heated with all the bodies that had gathered. By the end of Woolard’s performance, the entire crowd was buzzing with energy. Everyone filed outside for a breath of cool air while the next band set up.
Outside, people were praising the bands and the efforts of Seth Weddle.
“Anatomy of Frank from Virginia was amazing. I never knew any guy could sound so good,” Su said. “It was a really fun experience, and I hope to play with them again. We just want to create a positive environment where people can enjoy music and discover local bands and get publicity. Seth is awesome. This is all possible because of him.”
By this time the revelry had been going for almost four hours and the show was far from finished. At least four more bands were to follow. The rest of the night thundered on with many more people cycling through, enjoying the free music.
When asked about the next showing, Weddles speculated that the next planned Open House was scheduled for Nov. 11th, but he would always be open to planning one before then if it came up.
Last year’s Nov. 5th Guy Fawkes Day Open House seemed to be a success, so, Fawkes and music fans will might have something to anticipate.
